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OS/2
Operating system from IBM / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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OS/2 (Operating System/2) is a series of computer operating systems, initially created by Microsoft and IBM under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci.[2] As a result of a feud between the two companies over how to position OS/2 relative to Microsoft's new Windows 3.1 operating environment,[3] the two companies severed the relationship in 1992 and OS/2 development fell to IBM exclusively.[4] The name stands for "Operating System/2", because it was introduced as part of the same generation change release as IBM's "Personal System/2 (PS/2)" line of second-generation personal computers. The first version of OS/2 was initially released in December 1987, and newer versions were released until December 2001.
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![]() OS/2 Warp 4 desktop. This version was released on 25 September 1996.[1] | |
Developer | IBM Microsoft (1.0–1.3) |
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Written in | C, C++ and assembly language |
Working state | Historical, now developed as ArcaOS |
Source model | Closed source |
Initial release | December 1987; 36 years ago (1987-12) |
Latest release | 4.52 / December 2001; 22 years ago (2001-12) |
Marketing target | Professionals, servers |
Available in | Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Slovenian, Portuguese, Russian |
Platforms | x86, PowerPC |
Kernel type | Hybrid kernel |
Influenced by | MS-DOS, IBM PC DOS |
Default user interface | Workplace Shell |
License | Proprietary |
Succeeded by | eComStation ArcaOS |
Official website | OS/2 Warp (Archived) |
OS/2 was intended as a protected-mode successor of PC DOS targeting the Intel 80286 processor. Notably, basic system calls were modeled after MS-DOS calls; their names even started with "Dos" and it was possible to create "Family Mode" applications – text mode applications that could work on both systems.[5] Because of this heritage, OS/2 shares similarities with Unix, Xenix, and Windows NT.
Up to $990 million per year was spent developing OS/2 and its replacement. OS/2 sales were largely concentrated in networked computing used by corporate professionals; however, by the early 1990s, it was overtaken by Microsoft Windows NT. While OS/2 was arguably technically superior to Microsoft Windows 95, OS/2 failed to develop much penetration in the mass market consumer and stand-alone desktop PC segments.
IBM discontinued its support for OS/2 on December 31, 2006.[6] Since then, OS/2 has been developed, supported and sold by two different third-party vendors under license from IBM – first by Serenity Systems as eComStation since 2001,[7] and later by Arca Noae LLC as ArcaOS since 2017.[8][9][10]